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Major Piers Haywrd
Major Piers Haywrd, 40, Secret Service agent, ex-military; 5'11”; An attractive middle-aged man with military posture and bearing who is a little loquacious, and a bit old-fashioned. He has a massive graying mustache that he often involuntarily twitches, and his hair is primarily gray or white with snatches of blond. He is constantly having a problem putting tobacco in his usually present pipe. Maj. Haywrd has fought in Haiti, Brazil, Nicaragua, Cuba, China, the Philippines, you name it. After rushing a defensive position single-handedly in Brazil he received the Bronze Star and was sent to West Point. Condensed from an informal interview between Sen. Emerson and Major Haywrd I was born in Arkadelphia, Arkansas in 1873. My father worked in the Salt Works until The War. He was a good man, but back then they worked people excessively, and he was not long for this world. I had a standard childhood; we fished, hiked, played, heh, played with a lot of knives, which in retrospect was damn dangerous, but no one got hurt and I can still catch a knife that's thrown at me – plum pick it out the air. My mother died in childbirth, but my father married Annabelle two years later, and through that wonderful woman I have four lovely sisters. Annabelle and most of my uncles died in The War, so it's pretty much just me and my sisters, and my sisters have been on their own since 1889. Because in 1889, I was 16, and I joined our U.S. Army. Since then, I've fought all over. I've fought in Haiti, Brazil, Nicaragua, Cuba, China, the Philippines, you name it. It's a rough life, that of the soldier. I'm not complaining, but it's a funny job, defending the country. After Brazil, they sent me a medal and sent me to West Point, and I guess I've done all right for myself. Last year, I was redeployed to the Secret Service, which I guess means that I'm a civilian, which is both disconcerting and pleasurable. They brought me in because of what I did, and what I saw, in China. At the Tung Pien Gate in Peking, we were pinned down by them yellow Manchus putting up a hell of a fight. We were in trouble, far from reinforcements, in a bad position, and running low on ammo. I found an underground passageway and we sent a small force to flank the enemy. It worked out all right – heh, I'm here talking to you. But down there, we ran into another force, lightly armed. We took them out and uncovered... well, I can't really tell you what we uncovered. But let's just say I now have some powerful enemies that have hounded me all over God's green earth, and they just keep comin'. Anyway, because of what we uncovered, they decided to make me a kind of international detective. And here I am. While reading his grandmother's memoirs, Maj. Haywrd found out that his family are German Jews. He is mortified that the secret will come out. He is also reading many of the philosophical writings of anarchists and Communists, and finds himself largely agreeing with the anarchists, and largely disagreeing with the Capitalists. He has taken to throwing the books away as soon as he is finishes them, a practice he finds abhorrent but necessary.